The Misadventures of Duckie
by jgs329
Summary: Duckie is the youngest newsie in Manhattan. Taken in by Jack after an innocent little prank he pulled on him and a couple other newsies, Duckie is learning to adjust to the newsie lifestyle. But not long after, Jack starts to see a certain resemblance Duckie has to a certain friend of his and what Duckie has been hiding behind his seemingly happy smile. Post-Strike.


Hi! Umm... Well, this is my first time writing a Newsies fanfic, so... Yeah, I was just warning you. Updates will be random. Sorry, I'm a very busy person. Anyway... Enjoy!

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Disclaimer: I don't own Newsies.

Chapter 1: Chaz

A group of newsies were gathered in Central Park. It was an hour past noon and the business was great that day. Ever since the strike ended about six months ago, their lives have all taken a turn for the better. They each only had a few papers left, so the boys decided that they could spend an hour or two in their favorite spot in the park. Race, Jack, Davey, and Crutchy all sat at under a tree near a pond. They were discussing the latest news story that's taken over the presses for the past month. It was something about a ship catching on fire and sinking on its way from England to New York. The whole city has been buzzing about it since it happened. Meanwhile, Boots and Les were playing tag with some of the other younger newsies by the field off to the right of the pond. Everything was peaceful and calm for once, and that's something newsies rarely ever experience. After all, headlines don't sell papes, newsies sell papes.

"You're right, Cowboy," Racetrack yawned as he leaned on the tree trunk, hands behind his head and eyes closed. "We definitely need to do this more often."

David smiled at his friend. "Yes, I agree."

"I do too," chimed Crutchy.

"Just enjoy it while ya can, boys."Jack smirked as he gazed out on the pond, his eyes following a group of ducklings following their mother. Their quacks echoing around the small body of water. "Just enjoy while ya can."

Unbeknownst to the newsies, just above their heads hidden in the branches of the tree was a small boy. By the looks of it, he seemed like he couldn't be more than six or even seven at the most. The boy brushed his messy light brown wisps of hair out of his face as he brought out some bread crumbs from his pants pocket. He carefully sprinkled them on the unsuspecting newsies. Then the boy cupped his hands together. His left hand forming a cylindrical shape, while his right, covered one of the cylinders sides. The child brought the open side to his lips and blew a raspberry, creating a realistic quack. Peering down below him, the boy smiled his blue eyes shining mischievously as ducks started to make their way towards the newsies. He quickly hid himself just as the newsies looked up, confused looks on their faces.

"Did ya hear that?" Racetrack asked as he peered up at the tree, his eyes narrowing.

The other boys nodded and looked to where Race seemed to be looking at, but, to their surprise nothing was there.

"Ummm," Crutchy mumbled as he noticed the amount of ducks that were waddling towards their group, but the others were too busy to notice. "Fellas…"

"Not now, Crutchy." Jack swatted the air next to him, silencing Crutchy. He was still searching the tree.

By now Crutchy was up and slowy backing away. The amount of ducks was surprising. There were at least twelve ducks now surrounding the newsies. Crutchy tried to warn them again, but it was too late.

"What the- AHHHHHHH! Get off me! Stupid duck!" Race yelled as a duck went up and bit him, right on his butt.

Davey was the first to react, but as he tried to shoo away the ducks attacking his friend a duck jumped onto his head, which was coated with bread crumbs. "It's on my head! It's on my head! It's… IT'S BITING MY HEAD!"

"Oh, come on, guys!" Jack exclaimed as he finally heard the commotion Race and Davey were making. "What ja do this time?"

"It wasn't me!" Racetrack was now running around like a complete loon, five ducks on his tail. "I swear!"

Jack shook his head and helped Davey wrestle the ferocious bird out of his hair. Looking Davey over, Jack spotted some bread crumbs thrown into Davey's hair. "Davey, why in the sam heck is there bread crumbs in your hair?"

"What?" David answered honestly confused. He messed his hair up and his eyes widened when he saw bread crumbs falling out.

Meanwhile as Crutchy was watching this whole scene unfold, he heard laughter up on a branch in the tree they were all just under. Looking up, Crutchy was barely able to make out the silhouette of a child. Whether it was boy or a girl he had no clue, as the child was up pretty high. He had to tell Jack and the others!

Hobbling as fast as he could, Crutchy made his way back towards his friends. "Hey, Fellas!"

"What?" Jack asked, finally paying attention to the young cripple. "What is it, Crutchy?"

Crutchy pointed out the silhouette in the tree. "I think I found our culprit."

The boys looked to where Crutchy was pointing at surprised, except for Racetrack of course, who was still being chased by an army of ducks. The child was still laughing, but the laughter quickly died after he noticed that the newsies were staring at him. He tried to blend into the tree once again, though that tactic ultimately failed as the group was still had their eyes trained on him.

"Chaz?!"

A frantic nun was looking around the park, worried. As soon as she spotted the newsies, she rushed over to them. "Excuse me, boys, but have you seen a little boy? About this tall with light brown hair and blue eyes?"

Jack, Davey, and Crutchy all took their hats of in respect. "I think we have, Sister," Jack answered as he pointed up at who he assumed was Chaz, whose eyes were widened in shock.

"Oh, Chaz!" The nun cried as she pointed at the boy, scolding him. "Get down from there! You could fall! Oh, what are we going to do with you…"

Chaz quickly climbed down the tree, his head slightly tilted down in shame. "I'm sorry, Sister Lelia."

"Tt. You should be," Sister Lelia said sternly. She glared at Chaz forcefully, before turning back to the newsies in front of her. "I hope Chaz did not cause any trouble for you boys."

They trio shared a look, and then simultaneously glanced at Race. He was now up a tree on the other side of the pond, swatting ducks away with a stick. "Well, Sister he-" Davey started.

"Didn't do anything," Jack interrupted quickly. "All he did was… sit in that tree up there and… fed the ducks."

"I see." The nun replied keeping a close eye on Chaz. "Is that true, Chaz?"

Chaz looked up at Jack, his blue eyes staring intensely at him full of caution and surprise. "Yes, Sister Lelia."

Jack was taken aback the appearance of the kid. The way Chaz looked at Jack felt oddly familiar to him. He didn't know why, it just was. Maybe he just saw the kid before… Yeah, that was probably it. There were a lot of kids running around Manhattan lately… Suddenly, Jack felt the need to help the poor kid. The very fact that he was with a nun surely meant that he was an orphan who was taken in by the church. He was sure the other newsies wouldn't really mind. They took in kids all the time. Chaz seemed like a good kid to him anyways, a little mischievous, but a good kid none the less.

"Umm… Sister?" Jack asked as he looked over Chaz again. "How about we take Chaz off your hands? We can always use another newsie."

Davey stared unbelievingly at Jack, while Crutchy just smirked. Chaz, on the other hand, just gave Jack the same look as before.

Sister Lelia seemed a bit frazzled and... overjoyed by the sudden proposal. "Oh, well… That might just be possible. May I ask how old you are…"

"Jack Kelly, and I'm eighteen, Sister." Jack filled in as he smiled. Davey and Crutchy shared a look. They both knew that Jack wasn't going to turn eighteen until next month, but they kept their mouths shut.

The nun looked at Jack skeptically before glancing at Chaz. "You seem like good boy. Take good care of him. Chaz can be a handful. But he can use the responsibility." And with that Sister Lelia, walked away, a skipped at her step. She was a shockingly good actress for a nun…

This left only the newsies and Chaz under the tree once again. David was confused while Crutchy took no time in moving towards the child and attempting to shake his hand, but Chaz was having none of it. Chaz glared at Jack. "Alright, what was that?"

Jack once again felt the same sense of déjà vu come over him looking at Chaz. "What was what?"

"I attacked all of you with ducks and then you… adopt me?" Chaz sneered as he cross his arms. Even though the boy was mad, there was a hint of happiness that could be heard in his voice. "What do you want?"

Davey got over his shock and pointed to Racetrack, who was still fending off the mob of angry ducks. "How about you help out our friend over there for a start?"

Chaz looked at David and rolled his eyes before producing a little leather pouch from his pocket. Swiftly walking over to the pond, Chaz opened the pouch and turned it over, emptying its contents. Clusters of bread crumbs fell into the pond. The small brunette then proceeded to make quacking noises with his hands. The strange sound they heard in the tree finally making sense to them. The ducks that were surrounding Race took off after the noise and went straight for bread. Chaz put away the leather pouch and made his way back to the older boys. A smirk was playing on the small child's face at their impressed faces. Racetrack, who was now down from the tree, immediately went for Chaz, but as he about to soak the kid for having those crazy ducks attack him, Chaz pulled out a cigar from his other pants pocket and held it out to Race.

"Ummm," Chaz started as he smirked sheepishly at the now stunned newsie. "I guess I owe you an apology. I saw you smoking one of these earlier… I thought that this would be better than a bandage… Considering you're a newsie and all. Truce?"

Race first stared at Chaz in surprise, after a while he smirked and accepted the gift. "Ah, no problem kid. That was a good prank. Where did you get this cigar anyways?"

"The older kids at the orphanage used to smoke them all the time," Chaz stated as he put his hands in his pockets. "I didn't think they would miss one, so I took it. I thought it would come in handy some day."

"Why and how would it come in handy?" Davey asked in need of clarification.

Crutchy smirked. "Cause we's in New Yawk, Davey. Am I right, Duckie?"

"Huh?" Chaz said as he tilted his head to the side.

"Well, youse a newsie now," Jack stated as he patted the kid on the back. "And every newsie has a nickname. Since youse so good with them ducks, your name's gonna be Duckie."

Duckie smiled. "Duckie… I like it!"

"Welcome to the newsies, Duckie," Jack said as he gently took Duckie's shoulder and steered him towards the other newsies playing in the field. "Come on, I'se got a few people you'd wanna meet."

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Well, that was chapter one. I hope you liked it. So, I have no idea when I will be able to update this probably around September because I'm going off on a trip for a while. I won't have any access for most of the trip or a computer. Sorry, for the long wait, but I'll make it good I promise! Bye!


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